Carl Edwards and Casey mears were wadding up sheet metal as Dave Blaney drove by to take the lead. Credit: Autostock

Friday's frightful Busch race left most unlucky

CONCORD, N.C. -- Michael Waltrip finished second in the weirdest, most bizarre Busch Series event in the series' 25-year history, and he summed up the evening with the perfect sound byte.

Dave Blaney won his first Busch Series race on Friday at LMS. Credit: Autostock

Dollar General 300 Unofficial Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Dave Blaney Chevy 2. Michael Waltrip Dodge 3. Stacy Compton Ford 4. Matt Kenseth Ford 5. Danny O'Quinn Jr. Ford 6. Johnny Sauter Chevy 7. Clint Bowyer Chevy 8. Denny Hamlin Chevy 9. Kevin Harvick Chevy 10. Ashton Lewis Ford • Complete results, click here • Unofficial standings, click here Victory LaneDave Blaney celebrates his Dollar General 300 victory Top finishersMatt Kenseth and Michael Waltrip on thier race at Lowe's Final lapsDave Blaney rolls to the checkers in an exciting finish Early wreckKasey Kahne spins and collides with Greg Biffle Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"You'd better stay tuned," he quipped. "Dave Blaney will probably fail post-race inspection."

Blaney won the Dollar General 300 when Matt Kenseth spun off Turn 4 as the pair came side-by-side toward the checkered flag, and that was about the most normal thing that happened in more than 200 laps.

The only thing missing Friday night was a black cat, and absolutely no one would have been surprised to catch a glimpse of the Headless Horseman.

On Friday the 13th, there was plenty of voodoo to go around, as the evil reputation that the beautiful new asphalt at Lowe's Motor Speedway earned in May doesn't seem to have faded into the blue-gray October sky.

Oh, and by the way, Kevin Harvick clinched the Busch Series title with four races remaining.

But he didn't have the title until Edwards stopped spinning after a late-race crash, and the two wrecks that followed left Harvick with a ninth-place finish. Harvick needed to gain 32 points to clinch the title, but he was forced to pit early for a flat tire and fell back to 35th place.

"I was a little bit disappointed," Harvick said. "You can't control flat tires, but I like to control the things that we can control on pit road. We weren't very good in the pits [Friday night], but we did a good job preparing it. This thing was fast."

For some reason, nobody at Lowe's Motor Speedway seemed to know how to handle a simple gas-and-go pit stop by Mears with 18 laps remaining, and that's where the night took a turn toward the macabre.

NASCAR officials needed a six-minute red flag to sort out who the proper leader was after Mears ducked onto pit road to get a splash of fuel to finish the race and rejoined the race ahead of Edwards, who stayed out. But NASCAR reversed the order after the lengthy delay.

Still, the battle wasn't over.

Mears ran Edwards down and was pushing for the lead with two to go, got up into the marbles and spun, taking Edwards out in front of a packed front grandstand.

Mears drove directly to the garage area, and smack into a confrontation with one of Edwards's crewmen, which TV cameras caught. It was only a bit of yelling, but the normally easy-going Mears was absolutely livid.

He calmed down enough to talk to the camera and took blame for the crash that sidelined both himself and Edwards.

"We had a better car at the end," Mears said. "Carl was doing all he could to keep it on the bottom and not get in the lane. I got the outside and he started running up the track and it took off. I got loose and took him out."

Kevin Harvick was two laps down in 35th at one time, but rallied to finish ninth and win the championship. Credit: Autostock

Busch Series Standings after 31 of 35 races Pos. +/- Driver Behind 1. -- Kevin Harvick Leader 2. -- Carl Edwards -775 3. -- Clint Bowyer -847 4. -- Denny Hamlin -898 5. -- J.J. Yeley -1055 6. -- Kyle Busch -1268 7. -- Paul Menard -1276 8. -- Greg Biffle -1429 9. +1 Johnny Sauter -1646 10. -1 Reed Sorenson -1662 Note: Harvick clinches title • Complete standings, click here Title timeKevin Harvick wins his second Busch Series championship Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

As to the post-crash ugliness, Mears said, "one of Carl's guys had words for me but kept walking off. I don't know who it was, but what he said wasn't good. I was going to get him anyway, and I was talking to him while he was walking off."

Edwards saw the replay and shrugged.

"That's what happens sometimes," he said. "You go on the outside of the guy and it sucks the nose around. If that had been the last lap, it would have been the coolest finish ever."

Neither driver anticipated a problem with the other, as there was no contact until Mears got loose and spun.

As if there weren't enough going on, some serious doubt cropped up as to what Saturday night's Bank of America 500 might hold in store. Cup drivers had nearly all the major incidents in Friday's race, which bodes ill for Saturday's 334-lap event.

In a scene eerily reminiscent of last year's twin debacles on the 1.5-mile D-shaped track, every handful of laps it seemed there was a Cup regular in the fence, spinning down the frontstretch or it seelved in some other sort of mischief.

During the middle stages of the race, Auggie Vidovich and Jeff Burton collided in a violent crash just before a 58-lap burst that ended, predictably, with another crash -- this one involving Jamie McMurray. Otherwise, there was only one stretch of green-flag run longer than 10 laps.

Burton's No. 21 Chevrolet broke a carburetor and lost seven laps fixing it -- denying car owner Richard Childress the opportunity to clinch the car owner's title Friday night.

In the first 24 laps, Nextel Cup drivers Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle (both on Lap 7) and Jimmie Johnson (Lap 11) had all found the wall, along with Busch regular Shane Huffman.

Kahne and Biffle were involved in a regular ol' racing crash, which ticked off the normally mild-mannered Kahne to no end.

"We had a car that was capable of running very well here tonight, but David Reutimann ended that for us," Kahne spat after climbing out of his car. "I can't believe he's going to be in Cup next year."

Ouch.